“I didn’t say what that congresswoman said — didn’t say it at all — she knows it,” Trump told reporters. “I would like her to make the statement again because I did not say what she said."

The comments followed an early morning tweet, in which the president claimed Wilson “totally fabricated” her account of the call.

Trump said he “had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman.”

The president’s denials are at odds with Wilson’s description of the conversation, as well comments made by Johnson’s mother, who stood behind the congresswoman’s statements.

"President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Cowanda Jones-Johnson, who said she was also in the car, told The Washington Post.

The White House later said Trump's chief of staff, John KellyJohn Francis KellyMORE, was on the call, which was not recorded. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Kelly thought Trump's remarks on the call were entirely appropriate.

"General Kelly was present for the call and thought it was completely appropriate," she said. "He thought the call was respectful and he thought that the president did the best job he could under those circumstances to offer condolences on the part of the country."

Wilson first revealed details of Trump’s call with Johnson’s widow late Tuesday, after his body was returned to his hometown of Miami. "He knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt," Trump said, according to the lawmaker.

“I still stand by my account of the call b/t @realDonaldTrump and Myeshia Johnson. That is her name, Mr. Trump. Not ‘the woman’ or ‘the wife,’” she tweetedWednesday after the president spoke.

Trump, asked about his claim that he has “proof” of his account, said “let her [Wilson] make her statement again and you’ll find out.”

Trump’s comments have engulfed the White House in controversy and renewed doubts about his ability to empathize with the families of fallen soldiers.

Wilson was among four U.S. service members killed earlier this month in an ambush by Islamist militants. Military officials have said the soldiers were on a train-and-advise mission with Nigerien forces.

Trump ignited a firestorm of criticism Monday with his response to a reporter who asked why he had waited nearly two weeks to contact the families of the fallen.

Trump suggested he has done more than former President Obama and his other predecessors to make contact with the families of fallen soldiers.

“I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died,” Trump said in an interviewTuesday with Fox News Radio.

He also suggested that Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, was not contacted by Obama after his son was killed in Afghanistan.

“As far as other representatives, I don’t know. You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?” Trump said.